Now living wild, where she is the mother of an ever-growing family
Current age
20 years old
Gender
Female
Rescued date
19 September 2006
Rescue location
Laikipia, Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Date of birth (estimate)
17 June 2005
Reason orphaned
Natural causes
Age at rescue
15 months old (approx)
Current location
Living Wild
This rescue alert came too late for us to be able to take action that evening, so Batian Craig, the Manager of Ol Pejeta, assigned a guard to keep an eye on the calf during the night, and ensure that it was not targeted by predators attracted to the body of its dead mother or wander away and be unable to be found the next day. The Ranch lies within the foothills of Mount Kenya, whose three highest peaks are named after the famous early Masai Witchdoctor/Chieftains, Batian, Nelion and Lenana. Because of this, and since Ol Pejeta Ranch lies within the shadow of Mount Kenya, we felt it appropriate that our latest little female orphan, who is about 14 months old, be named Lenana.
As usual, at first little Lenana was quite “wild” and aggressive towards the Keepers, but within just a few hours she could not resist hungrily downing her first milk feed offered her by a Keeper, before trying to pin him against the wall! The other eight Nursery elephants were brought in to meet, and comfort her, and that night she slept in what is known as “The Taming Stockade” next door to that occupied by Kora, the biggest boy in the Nursery, who, along with Lualeni (the biggest girl) will soon be traveling to Ithumba to begin his gradual graduation back into the wild system. That night Lenana was exhausted, and slept well, again hungrily downing her three hourly milk ration. She was so anxious to join the others that we allowed her out the following morning, but she was still too afraid of the Keepers to accept her milk out in the bush, and since elephants lose condition frighteningly rapidly, the next day we decided to keep her in the Stockade with two Keepers to work on her and secure her confidence. (Indeed, just that one day without milk had resulted in the skeletal pronounced cheekbones indicative of milk deprivation). After two days in the Stockade with the Keepers, Lenana was out and about happily embraced by the others.
The photographs of Lenana beside her dead mother are courtesy of Ol Pejeta.
This rescue alert came too late for us to be able to take action that evening, so Batian Craig, the Manager of Ol Pejeta, assigned a guard to keep an eye on the calf during the night, and ensure that it was not targeted by predators attracted to the body of its dead mother or wander away and be unable to be found the next day. The Ranch lies within the foothills of Mount Kenya, whose three highest peaks are named after the famous early Masai Witchdoctor/Chieftains, Batian, Nelion and Lenana. Because of this, and since Ol Pejeta Ranch lies within the shadow of Mount Kenya, we felt it appropriate that our latest little female orphan, who is about 14 months old, be named Lenana.
View diary updates from across all our orphan units as written by the Keepers
It’s a boy! On 15th December 2024, Lenana introduced us to the newest addition to her family — a perfect little son.
Lenana could not wait to celebrate her joy at becoming a first-time mum with the people who raised her: still wobbly on his legs, she shepherded him to meet us at our Ithumba stockades on the evening of Saturday 22nd August 2020. With the moon rising in the sky as they arrived, we have chosen the name Lapa for Lenana's first calf, which means 'moon' in Samburu. Read more
It’s a boy! On 15th December 2024, after an absence of nearly two months, Lenana introduced us to the newest addition to her family — a perfect little son. Read more.
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